CM N Biren Singh felicitated Thounaojam Loyangamba Meitei and gave him Rs 50,000. He promised to arrange a bank loan for the teen, who wants to be an entrepreneur.

Manipur teen Thounaojam Loyangamba Meitei picked up the shovel in high school to work at construction sites. To fend for family, he had to. He might no longer have to.

Loyangamba, 18, has bagged fourth position in the state’s higher secondary (Class 12) examination in commerce and his feat in the face of odds has captured the government’s attention.

He scored 346 out of a total of 500 marks in the examinations conducted by Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur.

Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh felicitated Meitei on Thursday, two days after the examination results were announced, and gave the teen Rs 50,000 from his discretionary fund for books and to assess higher education prospects.

Singh also promised to arrange a bank loan of Rs 2 lakh for Loyangamba so that he could stop taking up part-time work as a daily wage earner and focus on studies. The CM also said the teen’s family would get assistance under government’s housing scheme (Rs 1.20 lakh).

Loyangamba, who went with his mother, Th (O) Ichal Leima, to meet the CM, said, “I want to do MBA and become an entrepreneur.”

The youngster said he wanted to study science, but did not because “that would have required taking tuitions, which my family could not afford”. His father, Th Banamali Meitei, did not have steady employment and money was hard to come by. “I did not expect to be among the top five,” he said.

Loyangamba, the third among four siblings, picked up the shovel to supplement his family income. A Manipur firm has given a solar home lighting system along with cash incentive to the youngster from Keibi Khullem Makha Leikai in Imphal East district.